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The Snowflake Capital
The Snowflake Capital (雪華の都 Sekka no Miyako) is the first episode of the anime Hakuōki: Shinsengumi Kitan. Synopsis Late December, 1663 Yukimura Chizuru has gone to Kyoto in search for her father. As she walks through town at night, she is harrassed and chased by a group of ronin samurai. She hides in an alleyway, then two white-haired, non-human creatures called Rasetsu attack and kill the ronin. They spot Chizuru and engage, but a group of men from the Shinsengumi kill the Rasetsu. Chizuru faints and they take her into custody and debate what to do with her. She wakes up the next morning finding herself restrained by ropes in the Shinsengumi headquarters. Inoue Genzaburo arrives and unties her. He takes her to a meeting held by the Shinsengumi captains and the commanders. Kondo Isami introduces himself, then they discuss the situation that happened the night before. Chizuru explains what her situation was and insists that she didn't see anything. The captains decide to keep her in custody until they find a way to keep her quiet. A few hours pass and Chizuru decides she needs to escape in order to survive. Hijikata Toshizo catches her. As Chizuru tries to escape his grasp, she tells him that she can't die yet and that she has something else she needs to do. Hijikata unhands her and says that he wants to hear her entire story. At night, she sits down with the Shinsengumi captains and commanders again and tells her story. 6 months earlier, her father left Edo for his work in Kyoto. After a while, Chizuru stopped recieving letter from him and word of him ceased. A month passes and she decides travel to Kyoto to search for her father. This leads up to arriving in Kyoto and the incedent from the previous night. By this point Hijikata speculates that Chizuru is a girl despite her masculine attire. Everyone is shocked by this as no one suspected her as being a girl dressed as a man. Then, Sannan Keisuke asks her if her father is Yukimura Koudo. Chizuru is shocked and asks if he is alright. To her dismay she is told that the clinic that he was working in mysteriously burned down about a month ago and inspecters haven't found a body. The Shinsengumi are tracking his whereabouts as well. Hijikata tells Chizuru that they will allow her to stay under thier protection until they have found Koudo. January, 1664 Half a month later, Chizuru stares out the window and ponders about her future out loud. She remembers a little while before, she was given the order to continue dressing as a man, thus was given back her kodachi that is precious to her. Okita Souji interupts her thoughts and comments on her thinking. Chizuru is embarrassed because she did not notice him sitting just outside her window watching her. Saito Hajime is standing there as well and Chizuru becomes more embarrassed. Todo Heisuke comes and tells them it's time to have dinner. Heisuke suggests Chizuru comes and eats with the group since they they're not allowed to leave her alone. She complies. At first the others are surprised upon her arrival, but soon begin to enjoy her company. Later, Inoue arrives with the news that Sannan has sustained a deep injury to his left arm while on the trip to Osaka with Hijikata. His life is not in danger, but he is unable to use his left arm, therefor unable to use a sword. Souji says that he might have to take the "medicine" which refers to the Ochimizu, or the Water of Life. When Heisuke begins to explain the meaning behind characters in "Shinsengumi," Harada Sanosuke punches him to keep him quiet so Chizuru doesn't find out. This scene is complicated, but what Souji says afterwards basically means, "The character 'sen' in Shensengumi that Heisuke meant means 'a pathetic group of boys.'" Trivia *The opening is Izayoi Namida performed by Yoshioka Aika. *The ending is Kimi no Kioku performed by MAO *One of the only scenes where Chizuru dons a woman's kimono is shown during one of her flashbacks. *Chizuru's theme is played during the dinner scene.